Tea bag



April 21, 1931. 5 COOPER 1,801,588

TEA' BAG Filed Sept. 13. 1929 Patented Apr. 21, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE SIIYION COOPER, OF BROOKLYN', NEW YORK, .ASSIGNOR TO COOPER TBA PACKET COM- I IPANY, OF BROOKLYN', NEW YORK, A CORI'ORATION OF NEW YORK :Lina BAG Application filed ISeptember 13, 1929. Serial No. 392,300.

This invention relates to individual tea bags, and particularly to so-called pillow shaped tea bags. I use the expression tea bag because the type of bag in question is usually used for making tea. However, it will be\obvious that the bags of the present inventidn may be used for making coffee or other infusions, and the present invention contemplates such uses of the tea bag Tea bags are used only once and are then thrown away. It is, therefore, of pai-amount importance that they be manufactured at very low cost; and this n'ecessitates inexpensive materials and high speed manufacture. In the prior art, tea bags have been made by stitching together the edges of a piece of fabric, continuing the stitching for several nches beyond the fabric to form a length of cord attached to the bag, and then stitching a tag onto the end of the cord. This prior art construction has certain advantages; but after the bag proper has been completely sewed up, the sewing machine must be operated for a substantal period of time to form the length of cord to which the tag is sewed. Also, sewing the cord to the tag requires the use of fairly expensive stock in the tag to keep it from tearing ofl'.

The generalv object of the present invention is to provide a tea bag construction which reduces the cost of manufacture.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a pillow shaped tea bag which can be rapidly manufactured at low cost and will be commercially satisfactory.

Fig. 1 is a side view of one form of bag embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view of a second form of bag embodying the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an edge view of the bag shown in Fig. 2.

i Fig. 4 is a view taken on the line 4 --4 of Fig. 2.

Reference will now be had to Fig. 1. A tea bag 5 is made by folding a strip of fabric double and stitching the free edges together, preferably with overlock stitching. The stitching may be commenced at corner 6 and terminated at corner 7, the charge of tea leaves (or other material) being inserted in the bag before the bag .has been com- Jpletely closed. As corner 7 is approach'ed in the sewing Operation, the operator places one end of a piece of string 8 in the path of the sewing machine so that the string will be sewed to the corner of the bag. Preferably, the end of the string is doubled back as at 9 so that the bend in the string will look behind one or more stitches to Secure it to the bag. The string is additionally held by being drawn against the bag by the stitches which overlie it, and by being pierced at random by the stitches.

The free 'end of the string is passed through a hole in a suitable tag 10 and then attached to the body of the string in any suitable manner as by a metal clip 11. This clip is preferably an open band of relatively thin metal that is closed around the string. It may, however, be a thin metal ring or the like through which the string is threaded, after which the 'ring is squeezed flat to secure it in fixed position on the string and hold the free end of the string. The tag may be attached to the string either lefore or after the string is attached to the Reference will now be had to Figs. 2, 3 and 4. A pillow shaped tea bag 15 is sewed up and filled in any suitable manner. A length of vstring 16 is then attached to the corner of the bag as shown by a metal clip or staple 17 which engages the string 16 and asses through both sides of the bag 15. n the free end of string 16 is a suitable tag 18 attached to the string in the same manner as in Fig. 1.

The clips 11 and 17 'are preferably made of suitable metal which will not be acted upon by moisture or by the tea, for example, aluminum. The metal clips or staples may be applied by any suitable means such as manually operated punches or power operated automatically fed punches. The string may be ordinary twine or heavy thread; and I use the word string to include any sort of filament suitable for the purpose.

It is seen that with the present nvention it is not necessary to operate the sewing machine after the bag has been completely closed. This effects a very large reduction in sewing time because in actual practice the tag string is often as long as'the length of stitching on the bag. Thus production is speeded up and overhead is greatly cut down, because a given output can be produced with the use of a lesser number of sewing machines. The looping of the end of the string through a hole in the tag permits the use of less expensive stock for the tag and hence the cost of the bag is further diminished.

The present invention may be embodied in forms other than those particularly disclosed and hence the foregoing disclosure is merely illustrative in Compliance With the patent statutes and is not to be considered as limiting.

What I claim is:

1. The method of making a tea bag which comprises .folding a strip of fabric to form two adjacent layers initially joined along one edge only; stitching the unjoined edges together b running a line of stitching from one end o -the initially joined edge, around the periphery of the cloth, and back toward the other end of the initially joined edge; doubling the end portion of a suspension string back upon itself; placing said doubled end of the string against the fabric adjacent said other end of said initially joined edge; and continuing the stitching over said doubled end of the string to complete the formation of a bag and to attach the suspension string thereto.

2. A tea. bag comprising two rectangular layers of fabric integral along one edge; a ine of overlock stitching extending around the other three edges and terminating at one end of said integral edge; a suspension string having an end portion extending under several sttches at the terminating end of said line of sttches, said string end being doubled back and looked behind at least one of the sttches; and a tag attached to the other end of said string.

In testimony whereof I aflix m signature.-

SIMON OOPER. 

